Siege of Falkirk
|place=Falkirk, Gaelic system |result= |side1=* *Free Commonwealth of Falkirk |side2= |side3= |side4= |commanders1=*Admiral Sun Lei *Protector Kamala Costa |commanders2=*Fleetmaster Octavius *Zealot Raz Vong |commanders3= |commanders4= |forces1='Free Commonwealth of Falkirk' Gaelic System Defense Navy (34 warships) *Falkirk Defense Fleet Falkirian Defense Force ---- United Nations Space Command UNSC Navy *Fifth Battlegroup (28 warships) UNSC Marine Corps *34th Marine Division |forces2=*''Fleet of Rapturous Might'' (50 warships) |forces3= |forces4= |casual1= |casual2= |casual3= |casual4= |civilian= }} The Siege of Falkirk was a major battle in the . One of several conflicts starting up after the fall of the Parisian Front in , the Siege of Falkirk saw the combined forces of the local and the Free Commonwealth of Falkirk stand united against the massive Covenant invasion. Between the ruthlessness of the brute commanders and the determination held by the defenders, the Siege would enter history as one of the most vicious battles of the war, although ultimately the Covenant would achieve orbital superiority needed to bring a decisive end to the battle. Prologue On February 24th, 2551, a Covenant fleet of fifty vessels entered the Gaelic system and immediately powered towards the inhabited colonies. The main Covenant fleet mostly bypasses the mining colony of Sgothein in favor of attacking the more heavily populated planets. However, a splinter group does break off from the main fleet to attack the mining colony, consisting mostly of Kig-Yar privateers. Sgòthein was never intended to be defended, as it was supposed to be abandoned before the battle began. But the Covenant had struck before the population could be completely evacuated. Another battlegroup, this one much more sizeable than the last, broke off to attack Ffyniannus, while the main fleet remained locked on course for Falkirk itself. The Battle Opening Maneuvers The main Covenant battle fleet, under the command of the Jiralhanae Fleetmaster Octavius, did not immediately attack Falkirk, but instead hangs just outside the combat zone, choosing to test the waters first by launching probing attacks and skirmishing with the human fleet, trading fire but never fully committing to an attack and whittling down the defending ships. This lull in the fighting served dual purposes. First was that it kept the bulk of the human naval forces trapped at Falkirk, unable to reinforce their forces at Ffyniannus. The second was that it was also a calculated psychological move on Octavius’ part, he wanted to let the other two colonies be destroyed first, in full view of the population before launching the final attack, hurting the morale of the defenders of the most heavily-defended planet and instilling fear. Command of the defending human forces fell to two individuals, Protector Kamala Costa of Falkirk and Admiral Sun Lei of the UNSC. Kamala wanted to throw in all their reserves immediately but Sun Lei wished to keep their full strength concealed from the enemy, keeping some forces hidden in reserve as to not show their hand and keep the enemy guessing. Costa protested against this, arguing that holding their forces back now would result in terrible death tolls for her people. However Lei was a battle-hardened veteran of the war against the Covenant, and she stated that regardless of what they did, or what strategy they implemented, Falkirk would suffer tremendous losses anyway. Ground War Reinforcements Aftermath The loss of Falkirk resulted in a tactical disaster for the UNSC. They immediately abandoned the system, lacking the manpower to maintain a hold in the system. This decision had widespread consequences on the wider view of the war, with a number of Inner Colonies being completely separated from the main territory of the . Fleets now heading to either sector had to instead travel along a number of secured star systems, increasing the travel time by a staggering six months on average. As they could not respond in the event that a colony was compromised, HIGHCOM ordered the Battlegroups Sulacco and Consular to perform a staggered evacuation, escorting large fleets of unarmed transports to the closest colony before heading back to begin it again. Unfortunately, only two trips were completed by the time was attacked, with the two battlegroups reassigned to defend the vulnerable core colonies. The conclusion of the Siege did have a single positive impact. Having been successful with distracting the Covenant at Falkirk, they were able to successfully evacuate the population centres at Ffyniannus. This meant that the Covenant did not need to glass the planet, only bombing the most visible cities from orbit. The remaining infrastructure would later be adapted by a number of users, first salvaging technology from the massive debris fields and then by Covenant privateers, with a Covenant remnant led by the Brute warlord Ferrus ruling the system with an iron fist. He would later be defeated when the original colonists returned to reclaim their former homes, returning the planet back under human control. With so much of planet surviving the conflict, the colonists were able to accelerate the system into a new era of prosperity. Participants Category:Battles of the Human-Covenant War Category:Gaelic Saga Category:Human-Covenant War Category:Battles